German band Dark Suns, hailing from Leipzig, deliver their
third album and also the first one that is not self-financed. They have
left their past with Death Metal and comes forth with an album filled
with dreamlike soft progressive music with a strong goth sense, and
that is as dark as their name implies. It is impossible to sort Dark
Suns into any genre, as their music break several borders and even if
they started as a death metal act there is not much left of that here.
The roots can nevertheless be heard in some ways, but there are no growls
or fast paced aggressiveness as far as the ear can hear, however there
is a feeling that lies lurking beneath the surface that tells of their
past.

Not familiar with the bands that Dark Suns are compared
with in Anathema and Porcupine Tree but it is highly emotional music
they play, music that demands your full attention when you are listening
to it. As I listen I find vibes of goth metal with the melancholia and
ambiences of death, as well as very calm, yet progressive, music that
is far from heavy metal. And I can even go as far as to early Marillion
when I draw comparisons, but the common red thread that bind it all
together is the almost constant slow pace that very rarely passes the
mid-tempo barrier. It sounds professional, as the band play as tight
as necessary to make this music work and there is a dark feeling embracing
it all, and not seldom with a more technical approach to the music making
me hear vibes of music similar to Tool going on in the background.

They seem to be doing pretty good with the calm and emotional
music, but it is when they put a little heaviness into it all I find
it to be the most interesting, unfortunately that happens far to seldom.
Often in melodic parts without vocals the pace is set just a little
quicker and the progressive elements lift the music and as the riffs
come out just a tiny bit heavier it is enough to make it actually rather
worthwhile. Also with the many of the slower parts it sounds really
great, and especially when there are parts with piano involved, but
there is far too much of the slow parts. Even if its not bad, it becomes
an overdose with slowness and what feels like uninspired parts for me.
Another weak point is the pale vocals that sound emotional all right,
but are not strong enough for their dark music, and when the flow is
lost in their music it gets uninterestingrather quick and sadly it happens
to often. You often wait for all hell to brake lose since it feels like
the music is building up that point, but then it never happens and the
awaited climax turns instead into an anticlimax.

But they possess a lot of power within their music even
if it mostly goes rather slow with the pace, but it is the length that
is the biggest problem. They have surely used the space on the disc
to the maximum and perhaps they could have been a bit more sparing.
Even if you can use the entire space you don't have to do so, shorter
songs and perhaps less of them would have been better, and also some
more intensity is my recommendation for the next album. To me, this
album partially works really well but is a bit to sad, slow and depressive
sounding in order for me to really like it.